over the past few weeks....

i've missed blogging about a lot of things that i probably should have. here's a quick update.

first of all, here's my house. i live with two other volunteers, both of whom teach at the local high school. i like the house a lot. its about a 20-25 minute walk to work, so i get a good workout in just from that. we're just next to a really neat community called kapinga village, which is made up from a group from a very distant atoll. (actually, the subject of oliver sacks' island of the colorblind, if you've ever read it). i run through or walk through part of the village every day, and i really like the vibe there.

















at the end of august, i ran a half-marathon here. (it only took three months to forget my resolve to never run a hot marathon again.) the pohnpeian word for the event is 'marasong', and it was awesome. there were a handful of white people running, and then lots of pohnpeians, most of whom ran in jean shorts and flip flops, or barefoot. there were 70 runners (8 women), and i came in #27 (fifth woman). probably the best ranking i'll ever have! i came in at 2:31, so i'm counting it as a PR for the half. w00t.

















finally a few weeks ago we finally made it to nan madol, which is the main tourist attraction here in pohnpei. its an old old old city, and of mysterious origin (of course). a lot of the creation story for pohnpei is centered around it, and its a pretty awesome site. the buildings are built in the water, so we of course went snorkeling, and i saw squid for the first time!